Maria Hoefl-Riesch got back on the World Cup trail with second place in the Downhill in Meribel. The HEAD World Cup rebel very nearly pulled off her ninth career World Cup win in Downhill after posting the fastest time from her start number of 20. Carolina Ruiz-Castillo came down from a start number of 28 to take the win with Marie Marchand-Arvier a hundredth behind Hoefl-Riesch in third.

Hoefl-Riesch admitted that although she had the fastest time when she came through the finish, she did not feel as though she would win. Her feelings proved correct as the Spanish racer pipped her time by two tenths of a second. “My run today was definitely better than yesterday in training. Most of my turns went pretty well”, Hoefl-Riesch admitted after the race. Hoefl-Riesch went to the World Championships not in the best of confidence yet since winning three medals, including one Gold, things have been going well for her, she feels. “It’s a really good result, if I look at my season that has been very up and down. I would have liked to win of course, but I am really happy to see Carolina winning today and to be honest with such a small margin over Marie and Tina Maze, I can say I’m lucky to be second.”

Lizz Goergl made the change to a slightly softer boot and with the added confidence this gave her, it allowed her to let her skis run a little more, she felt as she had more grip. "A thank you to the whole team, which helped me. Today I let the skis go, the line was not quite perfect. But I'm very happy, it's nice to be back in the top ten," explained Goergl.

Anna Fenninger left the finish area suffering from illness and headed home straight after the race.

Despite not racing at the moment, Lindsey Vonn still leads the Downhill standings by 101 points with Maria Hoefl-Riesch in fourth and Anna Fenninger in seventh with just two races in the Downhill season to go.